The Middletown Press 10.31.11 Middletown residents Frank Jenkins and his 91 year old mother, Bertha Boykin will spend the night in the emergency shelter at Middletown High School. Jenkins said his mother was asked to evacuate the shelter at Shiloh Senior Manors on Butternut Street in Middletown. less

The Middletown Press 10.31.11 Middletown residents Frank Jenkins and his 91 year old mother, Bertha Boykin will spend the night in the emergency shelter at Middletown High School. Jenkins said his mother was ... more

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The Middletown Press 10.31.11 Middletown residents Frank Jenkins and his 91 year old mother, Bertha Boykin will spend the night in the emergency shelter at Middletown High School. Jenkins said his mother was asked to evacuate the shelter at Shiloh Senior Manors on Butternut Street in Middletown. less

The Middletown Press 10.31.11 Middletown residents Frank Jenkins and his 91 year old mother, Bertha Boykin will spend the night in the emergency shelter at Middletown High School. Jenkins said his mother was ... more

As of 9:45 p.m., 16,584 Middletown residents were still without power, or about 73 percent. Power slowly started coming back in the downtown area after 8 p.m.

All of Durham's CL&P customers without power since the storm, and 97 percent of Middlefield's customers were still without power as of 9:45 p.m. Monday.

Nearly 204,000 CL&P customers out of 831,000 without power had been restored Monday evening, said Jeff Butler, CL&P's president and chief operating officer.

"We expect the pace of restoration to quicken as damage assessments are completed, blocked roads are cleared and additional crews arrive to help with the effort," Butler said. "Our projection for complete restoration remains the same: we expect it to take a week or more in some areas."

Butler said the company will provide more detailed estimates as soon as it has sufficient information to offer specific projections, most likely by Tuesday tomorrow morning for many of the towns in the southwest and eastern sections of the state.

A significant difference from Tropical Storm Irene is that CL&P transmission lines were damaged during the snowstorm, Butler said. Transmission lines take power from the generating plants where it is made and deliver it to the local distribution grid.

"We're having problems with both the generator plant and the sub station," Giuliano said. "When the transmission lines go down, about 20,000 people can lose power at a time... that's the bad news."

The good news is, according to Giuliano, when power is restored it will be restored for a large number of residents at one time, he said.

In Middletown, many residents came to the high school to stay warm and get something to eat on Monday.

"Our shelter is at capacity at this moment," Giuliano said during the day Monday.

Residents were in both of the school's gyms, the weight room, and cafeteria, and the showers were usable, Giuliano said.

"If we have to start setting people up in the hallways, we will," he said.

The city also opened up City Hall on DeKoven Drive as a warming center, and Wallingford was sending extra volunteers and extra cots, Giuliano said.

The mayor also advised residents against trick-or-treating because of safety concerns.

"I strongly, strongly am advising not to go," Giuliano said. "It is completely dark out there; you don't need to be out there."

The Elks Lodge on Maynard Street, which usually hosts a safe indoor Halloween event for children, postponed its event until Nov. 6 due to lack of power and for children's safety. It will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Crystal Ballroom.